Lagos teen jailed for slippers set free after four years

A Lagos teenager who was locked up since 2022 has been freed after spending almost four years in jail. He was arrested for wearing slippers like those of a complainant.

The teenager's name is not known. He was one of two men helped by the group Citizens Gavel. Their legal team found out about them during a visit to the Medium Security Correctional Centre in January 2024.

Citizens Gavel shared on Tuesday that the teenager was taken because of his slippers. He had never been taken to court despite being in custody for months.

The legal group said this discovery made them step in to follow up on the case. "Their ordeal came to our attention in January 2024 during a visit to the Medium Security Correctional Centre, where our legal team in Lagos interviewed them and discovered that, despite having been arrested since 2022, they had never been taken to court."

They added, "Immediately, our legal team took up their cases and began tracking the matter at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, eventually tracing the case to the court of Justice Coker." Citizens Gavel said they first went to court in March 2024 and showed up more than seven times for the trial.

The group stated that even with many adjournments, the prosecution never brought a single witness. "From then on, we continued appearing before Justice Coker on more than seven occasions for trial and filed several applications urging the court to strike out the case despite all the adjournments and the prosecution failing to produce a single witness," the group said.

In early 2025, the legal team learned that Justice Coker was away on official duty, so the case would be moved to another court. Citizens Gavel then followed the case and found it had been transferred to Justice Oshodi's court.

They first appeared before Justice Oshodi in March 2025. The charges were read to the two men, and they said they were not guilty. "At the close of the prosecution’s case, we filed a No Case Submission, arguing that the prosecution had failed to establish a case requiring the defendants to answer," the group noted.

The case was later adjourned for the court to give a ruling. When the ruling came, the court agreed with the No Case Submission and set both men free. Citizens Gavel called the result significant.

"What makes this victory even more profound is that throughout this nearly four-year ordeal, not a single member of either defendant’s family appeared in court. No other lawyer also represented them. They endured years in custody largely unseen and unheard. Today, they walk free," the group stated.